Wee Ginger Dug: Tory ‘SNP bad’ glee falls flatter than UK economy

YOU could hear the hissing sound of deflating harrumphery all the way from that distant galaxy where Theresa May is concocting what passes for her Brexit plans.

We must sympathise with Scotland’s Unionist parties and give them our love, compassion, and empathy. They’re in a delicate place. There they were, getting themselves all wound up like an elastic yo-yo making love to a Slinky in order to unleash an orgasmic barrage of SNP-baddery at the announcement of Scotland’s economic statistics, setting the stage with Vaseline-smeared photo opportunities, pics of actresses in underwear tweeted by Ruth Davidson, and warnings that the Scottish Government must take full responsibility for the calamatastrophe that passes for a Scottish economy.

When the economic figures were released, they actually showed the Scottish economy had grown by four times more than that of the UK as a whole. Cue the hissing of deflating balloons.

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The problem with saying beforehand that an administration must take full responsibility for a predicted failure is that when that failure fails to occur, the same administration that you were throwing metaphorical eggs at as if it was a Jim Murphy shirt must logically be given credit for the success. Even worse for the preachings of the IM Jollies of politics and their watery pals who get visited by the Queen, the Scottish economy has continued to attract record inward investment.

You know how we’re told that the “threat” of another independence referendum was going to deter foreign businesses from investing in such a divisive and divided land? Well it didn’t happen.

The total number of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects in 2016 exceeded the previous 10-year high set in 2015, according to the latest Scotland Attractiveness Survey. Scotland’s looking pretty and has attracted the greatest number of FDI projects outside London.

There is no evidence at all that the prospect of another independence referendum is deterring investment or damaging business. All there is is the sour predictions of Unionists with axes to grind. It’s just as well the Scotland Attractiveness Survey isn’t a survey of the sour faces of the Scottish Tories, because that survey is looking pretty ugly.

Despite the fact that the Scottish economy is doing a lot better than forecast, in Unionist land it is as inconceivable that the SNP can be given credit for a success as it is unthinkable that Ruth Davidson could pass on the chance to do a photo-op while perching on a tank and dressed in uniform like a stand-in for a Latin American dictator. Instead of being happy that the Scottish economy was growing, the Unionists were reduced to bewailing the recession that Scotland had avoided. Anyway, never mind. If you keep on greeting about the oncoming recession there is bound to be one along eventually. Given the way the UK teeters from one self-inflicted disaster to another, and the way Brexit is going, that probably won’t take too long.

Then the Unionist parties will attempt to blame the Scottish Government for the economic wasteland that has been produced by the Brexit the Tories and Labour both support. It’s unfashionable to make political predictions these days, since they all too often turn out to be wrong (just ask Theresa May and her confident belief in a crushing majority), but here’s a prediction for you.

The Tories and Labour in Scotland will, shamelessly and gleefully, blame the SNP – the only major party which has consistently argued and campaigned against Brexit – for the economic wreckage Brexit brings about.

To be fair, the LibDems have likewise argued against Brexit, but they only count as a major party when it comes to deciding who gets invited to debates about Scottish politics on the telly. Otherwise it won’t be balanced, where balance is defined as having three Unionists gang up on a single independence supporter. Anyway, the LibDems will forget all about the SNP’s opposition to Brexit, and will join in the chorus of condemnation along with the Tories and Labour.

The truth is that while it is certainly welcome that the Scottish economy is doing better than expected, the Scottish Government doesn’t have a great deal of control over it. It’s no more accurate to praise the SNP for Scotland’s economic success than to blame it for Scottish economic failure.

The levers of macro-economic control remain very firmly in the grasp of Westminster – all Holyrood can do is make a few tweaks to a course Westminster determines.

Unfortunately the course Westminster is determining is leading Scotland straight off the edge of a hard Brexit cliff, and there’s no Holyrood tweaking in the world that’s going to make that any better.

The real way, the best way, to grow Scotland’s economy in a sustainable manner that benefits the people of Scotland is for the Scottish Parliament to have control of all the levers of economic and political control so that we can avoid the disaster of Brexit, and that means independence.

Ipsoregulated

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